The theft of high quality radio and tape players from vehicles has become a major concern to the owners of vehicles. In many areas the presence of an expensive automobile is also a signal of the presence of a high quality valuable radio and tape player. Various attempts have been developed through the years to provide alarms, vehicle locks, radio locks and the like as deterrents to thieves. The effectiveness of such deterrents has not been great. Professionals have developed many ways to by-pass or neutralize auto alarms. In certain cities where expensive cars bound, the sound of an auto alarm is a common everyday occurrence and is usually ignored.
Locking devices which hold a radio in place only serve as a challenge to would-be thieves who often manage to remove the radio doing great damage to the console or panel. In many cases, the damage done by removal of the radio exceeds the value of the radio. The vehicle owner and the insurance company suffer an even greater loss by attempting to prevent the theft.
The only effective prevention against theft of high quality radios and radio tape players is removal from the vehicle while are not in use and the automobile is parked with an observable empty radio cavity. There is no incentive to break into a vehicle if it is apparent that there is no radio present. Attempts have been made to disguise radios by overlays. However professional thieves are well educated to that deception.
One of the difficulties with the removal and replacement of a radio is that the conventional mounting requires removal of mounting screws from underneath the panel, disconnecting several leads and pulling the radio forward through the panel. Quick disconnect holders for radios and particularly citizen band radios, have been developed through the years. Most of these are for under-dash mount, and not to be used in the dash console. In such cases the radio itself disturbs the appearance of the dash and the owner is usually not concerned about the size of the mounting mechanism.
For in-dash or console quick removal devices, I have found that most are quite cumbersome and result in the radio protruding out of the dash or console, seriously detract from the appearance of the dash and console. Likewise, I have found existing mechanisms with "quick release" connector or connectors at the rear of the radio require substantial force or manual disengagement remove the radio.
Example of quick release mechanisms for auto-radios are illustrated in the following patents:
______________________________________ 4,418,975 John J. O'Keefe August 17, 1971 3,513,478 Thomas V. Kemper Oct. 24, 1968 Keith F. Keller 4,117,700 Charlie H. Saunders Jan. 18, 1978 4,103,983 Lowell D. Morrison March 30, 1977 Howard E. Moon 4,050,767 Keith E. Berning August 5, 1976 4,094,574 Thomas L. Gunn Dec. 27, 1976 4,061,971 Morris R. Burrons Oct. 1, 1976 4,058,357 Dewey K. Wallace Sept. 23, 1976 ______________________________________